Know the soul to be the true self.

Prayers and sacrifices belong to a premature stage of development. However,when no answers come to prayers, struggle for existence presses man, and doubt arises again. Faith in religion weakens as man pays more attention to facts of life and this world.

Reason is the common ground for a whole humanity in modern age, whereas the appeal to scriptural relations reaches only the sects. Those who argue that truth is only in their religion are vain logicians, depending on mere ideas, speculations and imaginations.

Truth is a bitter pill. It becomes very difficult for the seeker to accept it at first; because of his inborn and inherited conditioning. Gradually he will be able to grasp it as he moves on.

The illusion is present only in ignorance where, 'I' and you are a separate entity. In truth, there is neither 'I' nor you, nor, the illusion. Therefore,there is no teaching, no teacher, and no student in reality.

Truth pursuit is a very personal journey. Seeker has to verify minutely on his own, “what is truth”, and “what is not truth”, before accepting anything as truth.

The illusion exists as a reality, only on base of the waking entity(ego), which is he false self within the false experience.

For Gnani, who is aware of the fact that, the self is not physical, but self is consciousness, there is no illusion, even though; he is in the midst of illusion, because he is fully aware of the fact that, all the three states are consciousness. Therefore,he is conscious of the real nature of the consciousness in the midst of illusion.

The language of the duality, invented by the within the duality, for use in the dualistic world, when used to describe non-duality, produces these apparent contradictions, because there no apparatus in non-duality, because noting exist other than the soul, which is in the form of consciousness.

Non duality is the state of oneness of existence, and there is no scope in its philosophy for anything like non-existence.

Sage Sri, Gaudapada’s rational exposition of Advaita: - that whatever is seen, whether external or internal, whether by the ordinary persons or yogis, is unreal.

The essence of the Manduka' Upanishad is: Do not be satisfied with rituals, yoga etc. which are good in their own way, but inquire. Inquire in to the nature of the mind. ? Brahman and Atman are things one can never see. So seeker should not inquire into them. He has to inquire into the world around him, which he can see. Analysis tells him it is passing away every second. Everything is dying repeatedly. Where is it going? Thus he follows up his investigation into what he can lay hands on. How can he inquire into Atman which he cannot see? So first he must deal with the known and seen, this inquiry leads up to the unknown in the end.

Mediocre minds waste their time on arguing about unimportant matters. Accumulation of scriptural knowledge is dangerous in pursuit of truth. Seeker has to establish in the truth of Non-duality by sheer reasoning alone. Seeker has to begin by defining "What is real?" "What is unreal?" etc, because that is the right way to discuss, understand and assimilate self-knowledge. Thus seeker has to remove all the hindrance in order to acquire Self-knowledge.

According to Adavaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seeker who seeks to know Brahman. Thus, the purva mimam.sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

An essential identity between Atman and Brahman is upheld in Adavaita Vedanta. The personality of Sri, Sankara and the force of Adavaita teaching is so strong that most post-Sankarian schools of Vedanta consciously define their doctrines against Advaita thought.

Sage Sri, Sankara declares Atman is Brahman. Direct realization of ultimate truth is possible without the scriptures. Know the soul to be the true self. And the soul is in the form of consciousness, and realize consciousness as ultimate truth or Brahman.